6 May 2013

This episode didn't bring any great original language oddities. The Shemail segment presents the usual non-sense message with queer phrases.

"Sometimes a drag queen's got to do what a drag queen's got to do. Whether is laying a foundation or painting the house down." The house down is a phrase used by queens just to emphasise meaning.

"Remember the golden shower rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto Ru." Needless to say the the golden shower rule is a deviation of the phrase golden rule.

Nothing more proper to show how this sentence sounds weird than the reaction of Alaska, who not only looks puzzled but let out a "What?!"

The runway presentation was a bit more rewarding. "Hunty for Red October" being a quite funny allusion to the title The Hunt for Red October.

"America the bootifull." Bootiful is a blend of booty and beautiful; a word that is certainly not a new, but, not common.

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Coco & Horchata Montrese

"Red sky at night. Sailor's delight." RuPaul says this out of the blue. This rhyme is a common wheather lore familiar to mariners.

"Is that your boa? Or you're just ready to flock me?" This is a deviation of the common sentence that ends in ...Or are you just happy to see me? This sentence is an example of a knob joke that makes reference to an erection and that was made popular by Mae West.

3Sugar Ball: this is the episode in which the queens have to make a costume our of something - in this one, candies. So the Shemail segment delivered a message full of references to choc bars; this couldn't turn the English in the message more strange.

"Hey Kit-Kats! Don't

Sneaker. Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you feel like A Hundred Thousand Dollar Bar - non. Here's Whatchamacallit." All words in italics are names of choc bars. Nut - I suppose - is short for Nutty Bar.

The puppet show presentation was a highlight of the entire season. The language used during this segment is also remarkable. RuPaul, as usual, abuses of double entendre refering to the hole where the puppets are.

Alaska reaching for a puppet in the hole.

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He couldn't also miss the opportunity to dig a film title to make fun of when Alaska had his arm into the hole: "A Fist Called Wanda." This is a reference to A Fish Called Wanda.

The runwayA few language pearls also ocurred during the runway presentation.

"Where my Peeps at?"

RuPual makes reference to the catchphrase Where my people at? that Roxxy used in the song Can I Get an Amen. She replaces the word people for Peeps - marshmallow candies shaped like small animals.

"She's sixteen going on sickening." This sentence from the song Sixteen going on seventeen is frequently used in the show in a modified manner. Later in this episode Ms Visage refers to Jinkx look as "Sixteen going on forty-seven."

"Very Splenda in the Grass." RuPaul makes a reference to the film title Splendor in the Grass changing the word splendor for Splenda - name of an artificial sweetner.

The best double-entendre of the programme was perhaps this one from RuPaul: "Welcome ladies. Thanks to your candy couture... I've got a cavity. And it's throbbing."

2The Final Three, Hunty

While this episode wasn't great on language oddities,

at least it presented two neologisms:

Chiffonography and Hairography

blends of words chiffon and hair, respectively, and coreography.

1Countdown to the Crown

In this last episode before the new drag superstar is revealed, RuPaul didn't spear the public of his encrypted double-entendre. So, that's how she opens the show: "Even I can't quite put my finger on the charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent, it will take to win the title of America's next drag superstar. " Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent, as already mentioned in previous posts, form an acronym to c.u.n.t. - vulgar word for vagina.

The English used in the review of this season's contestants would take a whole new post to be properly analysed. It's a very complex language full of references, allusions, and witticisms. But there's no time for that because the Reunion episode is about to air on tv. So I leave you with RuPaul's words which reveals how conscious he is of the strangeness of the Drag Queen's English.

"She bring it to you every ball. Why y'all gagging so? Did you understand that? If not, you could use a refresher course in Drag Linguistics; hashtag shitmygirlsays."

I'm sure this blog gives its contribution to native and non-native English users everywhere.

5 May 2013

* Countdown of the odd linguistic expressions of this 5fth season of RuPaul's Drag Race.

Whilst we're on the countdown to learn

which queen will be crowned next America's drag superstar,

I present here a countdown of the remarkable idiosyncratic expressions that occurred through this 5th season of RPDRace (ep. 4 - 13).

10Black Swan: Why It Gotta Be Black?﻿﻿

Coco Montrese & Alyssa Edwards

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿This is quite a disappointing episode in terms of linguistic strangeness (check post 1). The most noteworthy occurrences of strangeness occurr in the speech of Detox. Detox use of abnormal voices and intonation is quite characteristic of her English – like when she speaks imitating the cackling of a chicken in episode 3.

One of Detox's odd linguistic behaviour occurrs when he complains about Mahogany's dance performance. "Honey kind of sucks. Watching her was so uncomfortable." Then, Detox alter his voice to an unusual high pitched intonation, and let out a...

"F*ck my life."

9Snatch Game: This episode didn't feature many remarkable oddities.

One in particular drew my attention:

“She put the wubba in wubba wubba wubba.”

Downtown Julie Brown: MTV Veejay

RuPaul uses this nonsense expression to introduce the snatch game guess Downtown Julie Brown. Wubba wubba wubba is an expression that became Downtown Julie’s catchphrase on MTV.

Wubba wubba wubbaalso appears in the

Monster in the Mirror song from Sesame Street.

An interesting expression occurred in the workroom, right after Jade Jolie jokes, “You know what’s ugly? Poverty.” Jinkx then replies: “The Jade… the Jade of it all.” This expression refers back to the phrase The shade… the shade of it all that was introduced in RPDRace season 4 by Latrice Royal.

8 Can I Get an Amen? In this episode, among the few new language oddities that occurrs, one interesting one came from RuPaul: "Waiter, can you wrap that ass to go?" It's a normal sentence that has an unusual word collocation - ass.

Alaska - one of the three finalist

Another interesting use of language occurs when RuPaul addresses Alaska during the runway. Ru asks, "Alright, who is gonna ask 'er." Then, he himself answers it: "I'll ask 'er!" I'll ask her is homophone to Alaska.

To close, Ru don't miss the opportunity to change the words of the song Can I Get an Amen? and instead sings: "Can I get a gay man?"

7RuPaul Roast: This episode has more linguistic oddities.

To start with, they begin with The Library challenge

and the queens have to read each other to filth.

The Library is Open challenge

As usual, they play with the words top and bottom. "Coco Montrese, For someone who call himself a top, you sure like being on the bottom." Roxxxy allundes the fact that Coco has been in the bottom two already twice.

"Long story short: the season of the fish smells like trout." Alaska plays juxtaposing the words fish and trout - fish meaning feminine sexy and trout meaning manly and somehow decadent.

When the queens are challenged to participate in a roast, it's time for the queens show off their linguistic wittiness.

Jinkx plays with the word top. "It's gonna be hard to top Coco. But look at her. Who would wanna top Coco?"

6Scent of a Drag Queen: the title of the episode is an allusion to the film Scent of a Woman. Here, the queens had to create a perfume and film a commercial for their signature fragrance.

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿Alaska created a memorable commercial and, by far, the most memorable expressions which played with the word Red and read (past of read). Her commercial went…

Alaska's Signature Fragrance

﻿﻿﻿“Whether you getting read the house down. Or just ready to go down. The exciting new fragrance: RED For Filth… Are you Red-y for me?”

5Drama Queens: in this episode the most marked aspect of linguistic strangeness was the exaggerated use of Spanish replacing English words and expressions.

Ella No Es Dama, or, She's No Lady

Spanish words – and expression perhaps – are actually very frequent in the American English as a result of the flow of immigrants from Latin America into the U.S.A.

Here, the queen had to enact a Mexican telenovela – the Latin America equivalent of soap opera.

That’s why most of RuPaul’s utterances in this episode evoked some Spanish or some aspect of the culture of Latin America (especially Mexico.)

“Shake the dice and steal the rice… and beans” RuPaul refers to rice and beans, which is a staple food largely associated with Latin America.

“I can see her cuchi cuchi.” Cuchi cuchi apparently is a slang term for the lower parts of a woman; the phrase “cuchi cuchi is a trademark of Charo – Spanish-American actress and comedienne who appeared frequently in American television shows.

“Serving Tex-Mex…” Tex-Mex is defined in the OED as an adjective that denote Mexican and Southern American features of something (especially food or music); it also refers to a variety of Mexican Spanish spoken in Texas.

Queens on the Runway: dressed with Latin Glamour

The most representative expression of this episode, however, was “Caballeros, start your engines. And may the best mujer… win.” Caballeros and mujer, naturally, being the Spanish for gentlemen and woman.

About Me

Passionate about owt I do. Love t' English. I'm easy turned on by broad accents; pretty much interested in exploring recondite n' naughty side of English. I'm into word play and hardcore punning involving t' English tongue - the main subject of my MA in English.I enjoy watching old films in the cinema, listening to BBC radio comedy, film soundtracks, cartoons, classic sitcoms (and some good new ones).

Graduate from the University of Leeds - MA in Linguistics & English Language Teaching.

Author of The Book Is On The Table - a novel about my mostly unconventional behaviour to learn English as a second language and my insatiable desire to continue improving my proficiency in English. Currently I am writing two blogs - in English n' Portuguese: one about Linguistic Strangeness and the other about English & Male Beauty.